Many organizations have great academic programs but are not as adept at assessing how those programs will perform in a new and competitive market. Having established a national reputation for quality market research, Compass provides perhaps the most important ingredient for success — market knowledge. Because we are an operational and financial partner, we take great care in choosing programs that have viable markets. In other words, what benefits our partners, benefits us — we are both focused on success. We can also help partner’s assess their institution’s readiness to serve a large population of distance students through curriculum and infrastructure planning.

Launching an e-learning program requires significant resources in order to gain exposure, attract students, train faculty, and create and manage the new learning environment. Working capital requirements often reach hundreds of thousands of dollars per program launch. Compass fronts most of this cost, allowing our partner to enter the market more quickly and deeply than otherwise would be possible.

Effective marketing must preserve brand integrity and provide maximum brand exposure in order to create optimum lead flow. Our professional marketing team can create precisely targeted multi-media campaigns that carry just the right messaging to generate inquiries from prospective students.

Most institutions are not equipped to perform well in this important value chain area. Recruitment is undoubtedly one of our core strengths. We excel at attracting a large number of qualified students in prescribed timeframes to meet mutually-agreed-upon enrollment goals. Our recruiting is not high pressure. Our recruitment counselors spend considerable time with prospects, engaging them in a personal, interactive, and constructive dialogue designed to introduce them to your institution and program, determine if they will meet your admissions criteria, and if so, lead them through the application process in a timely manner.

Many institutions develop all their own courses. However, from time to time our academic partners rely on us to assist qualified faculty in developing programs or courses the institution deems necessary. We have successfully built rigorous and dynamic courses for a variety of partners.

A well-designed virtual learning environment makes the syllabus come alive. It combines technology and pedagogy to engage faculty and students in an exciting exchange of ideas. Our curriculum design experts can help faculty develop a program that stimulates, invigorates, and results in an outstanding learning experience.

Not every institution needs this service, but it can be a daunting task to find, qualify, and engage faculty or support staff for a growing program. Many of our partners’ programs have grown exponentially in short periods of time. To assist with staffing, Compass can train existing faculty for the virtual environment and help institutions recruit qualified adjunct faculty.

Ineffective or non-existent support systems can destroy the virtual learning environment. Compass surrounds faculty and students with a robust and easy-to-access support system, including faculty training, faculty and student orientation, and a 24/7 helpdesk. Our staff operates on a first-name basis, providing technical support, hands-on troubleshooting, and instant advice on a range of technical or design issues.

Without fail, our partners experience significant, sometimes astounding, increases in retention and graduation rates. This success is partly due to a higher percentage of qualified students and exceptionally-designed courses. Another critical factor is the assignment of retention counselors to each student. We understand that even highly qualified students need someone to reach out across the miles to meet their logistical needs and keep them connected. The personalized attention we offer ensures that students do not get behind, that they find the proper help when they do face hurdles, and that they reenroll when the time comes.

There needs to be an additional space between the subheading for #10 and the next paragraph. There’s only one way to stay well ahead of an increasingly competitive marketplace: continuous planning for continuous improvement. While we stay in constant contact with our academic partners, we also designate key times at the end of specified cycles each academic term to discuss our progress, determine where improvement needs to be made, and define our goals for upcoming sessions.